The Respectability of Torture
St Mary’s University College, Thurs 1st August, 7.30pm
Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, was a whistleblower who was removed from his ambassadorial post by Tony Blair for exposing the Tashkent regime‟s use of rape and systematic torture, including the boiling to death of political opponents. He has also spoken out against Central Asia‟s appalling dictatorships, regimes which are allies of the West, involved in torture and rendition, and was accused of threatening MI6‟s relationship with the CIA. Now a human rights activist, author and broadcaster, he outlines the dynamics of torture and the hypocrisy of incriminated Western governments.
My first public appearance for a while will be in Belfast on 1 August where I shall be giving a talk. Long term readers of this blog will recall that, while my focus is largely on international affairs, the domestic political achievements I most hope to see are a united Ireland and an independent Scotland.
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Whatever about who started it, the person insisting on dragging down the tone is Doug.
Doug Scorgie said;
I have not laughed so much in ages, that is a heck of a one liner.
No country on the planet is as Cyclist unfriendly as UK, the pavements are out of bounds, and the roads are out of bounds and unfortunately as yet bicycles do not fly.
Not true wher I live, anyway. My reference to cycle paths above was to pavements clearly signed as cycle paths (God help the pedestrians) which the Lycra mob disdain to use. The law is as unsympathetic to motorists maiming cyclists here as anywhere else. Automatic loss of no-claims bonus, too, if the yellow jersey in his own private Tour de France cuts in front of you in the traffic and winds up squashed. Or gets inside a truck’s blind zone at the lights, ditto. If by some miracle, this less than godlike being is in some barely discernible way at fault, he’s not insured, so
you’reI’m still the one who shells out for damage received.Any system involving unpowered, uncontrolled, unsteady vehicles -ffs, having a mirror is regarded as a sign of effeminacy by these dudes – in close proximity with ten-wheelers and god knows what else is completely insane.
the seventy mile an hour pratts sitting on the fast lane and upholding the queens speed limits in their part time capacity as the road speed enforcers.
Agree with that at any rate, lol. Then there’s Mr/Mrs 40 mph who suffers from fear of corners… But what of having 25 mph enforced on you on a 60 mph road by a brace of pushbikers?
Well, if it involves emptying the mind, I suppose that explains a lot.
Anyway, a better guide to this stuff is Tom Campbell and his big TOE
http://wiki.my-big-toe.com/index.php/Tom_Campbell_-_Lectures
or if you’re feeling just a tad more adventurous you could always turn on, tune in and drop out with Terry Mc Kenna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYB0VW5x8fI
WARNING: Some of Mr McKenna’s work is not suitable for children, or young adults of an impressionable nature.
“I have not laughed so much in ages, that is a heck of a one liner.”
I wouldn’t be relying on you to keep up the tone anywhere. And as a ‘one liner’ it’s not new anyway.
Villager
5 Aug, 2013 – 11:12 pm
“He’s talking about her being something different — its only fair she explains.”
Villager (Idiot)
You have the logical ability of a pea.
Only Suhayl will know what he was alluding to.
I’ll help you:
SUHAYL WHAT WERE YOU ALLUDING TO?
There, see how easy it is?
Herbie 5 Aug, 2013 – 6:47 pm
“The 22-year-old woman was taken into custody at Chelsea police station, where five officers, including one female police constable, removed her clothes by force.”
I have twice been locked in police cells naked. And yes, one was in chelsea station. They left me naked for over an hour. In brighton station I was pretty badly roughed up while redressing. I was rescued by other coppers who apologised but laughed when I asked if they would support a complaint. One fella actually said “it’s more than my job’s worth”.
On neither occassion was there any reason to make me naked. I got assaulted because I taunted the coppers about the sexual tension in the room like the mouthy gob shite I was. I wasn’t charged with anything on either occassion (because I hadn’t broken any laws if that is relevant).
Herbie
Just watched Terence McKenna. I’m not convinced that the answer to “How do we fight back?” is “by creating art” but … I’ll go away and think about it.
“Its a process. I am my own guru.”
Qadir Al Jilani said: “Those who do not have a Shaykh, their Shaykh is Satan”.
Komodo
6 Aug, 2013 – 10:41 am
“XXXXing bastarding whoreson shitbtrain wannabe Bradley Wiggins, you DON’T own the bastard road.”
Near where I live there is an off-road cycle path that I walk along just to annoy the bastards.
Dre
There’s a lot more to Terry than that, but while you’re thinking about it you might just reflect that much, perhaps all of what you see around you is in fact art.
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Phil
Obviously the police use strip searches etc as a form of degradation, but surely you’ll agree that forced stripping of a young woman by male officers is well dodgy, especially when they didn’t record the search and tried to disuade her from seeing a lawyer.
Herbie 6 Aug, 2013 – 1:35 pm
“but surely you’ll agree that forced stripping of a young woman by male officers is well dodgy”
Sure, yes, of course. I in no way meant to normalise such behaviour. The coppers who assaulted her should be prosecuted.
Phil
I didn’t think you were condoning it. I just thought it important to emphasize the point.
The problem really is that the police are out of control, and the more worrying thing is that that seems to be the plan.
Komodo,
rofl your ire has risen.
I cycle, and wear Lycra too, but for the mirrors, these are normally the most deadly addendum that given an accident will sheer off fingers, thumbs and other small parts. Given the Lycra pressures!!
In Germany the pavements are for cyclists as well as the pedestrian, in Holland too, and the penalties for the accidents are rather more substantial than UK.
But the short of it is; the cyclists who break the rules in Germany or Holland face the full wrath of the police, and in fact these errant cyclists get fined and if they possess a driving license that too will be endorsed.
so far as the professional drivers (trucks and the likes) are concerned, they are trained based on the notion that everyone on the road is crazy and unpredictable other than the professional drivers! However the car drivers, bless them can hardly walk, yet are given a car and told they can drive!!! I am not anti-driver, in fact I drive myself, and my job used to involve at least 2500 miles driving per calender month. However there is sense, and logic, and then impatient pratts who cannot manage their time, and they intend to compensate for the short fall by driving “more expeditiously” ie being total pratts on the road.
Let us clarify two points in the maritime rules, and the aviation too, the slowest craft has priority, and that means a poxy row boat can bring a huge oil tanker to a halt. Alas on the roads there seems to be the slowest ie the pedestrian has no rights. This is reflected in the deign of the pedestrian crossings, roundabouts, and roads and pavements. The pedestrian has to walk further and suffer more disruptions to their journey on foot, because the road users have priority.
Simple fact that all road users are pedestrians too, somehow never dawns on the drivers. Next to pedestrians are the cyclist, who are the slowest which of course means pedestrians on two wheels encroaching on the hallowed speedways we have come to know as our streets and roads. Further, these speedways are not actually fit for the purpose that they serve is another question. Hence no one is happy with arrangements and the most vulnerable ie the pedestrians, and the pedestrians on two wheels get in the neck.
Anyway, here’s Terry when he still looked like Luke Kelly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzIUNQ9HxzU
Komodo
“…you DON’T own the bastard road.”
Not yet.
Passerby
“and that means a poxy row boat can bring a huge oil tanker to a halt.”
Mmmm. You might find that reality severely trumps any rules in this situation.
Dreoilin said,
Shocks I have to send back the top hat and tails now that I am not going to be admitted to the next Christmas party then. Alas my sheltered life has been a hindrance, and this the first time I have read such a remark.
Finally have you had your saucer of milk as yet today?
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Doug Scorgie said,
I rest my case!
Dead right, Phil, and the situation is analogous (having spent some time in a variety of vessels)….the tanker will take a couple of miles to stop, and the rowboat won’t. Practical solution, rowboats stay out of shipping lanes if they know what’s good for them.
I cycle, and wear Lycra too, but for the mirrors, these are normally the most deadly addendum that given an accident will sheer off fingers, thumbs and other small parts. Given the Lycra pressures!!
Not sure what you mean about the Lycra, but my m/c fails its MOT without mirrors, and the momenta involved in a collision are considerably higher. There must be a reason for my risking sudden finger snappage and having these lethal items attached to my machine, no?
As a matter of fact, when I was much younger and riding some unspeakable old rat bike (motor) with about the level of awareness of the average pushbiker (with mirrors, though) I suffered a green-car-on green lane incident, and it wasn’t the mirrors that necessitated the subsequent finger bone resetting, but the clutch lever. I believe you have levers too? Well, ok, who needs brakes if everyone has to go carefully round you without you being aware of their presence? Rip ’em off. Useless things. And dangerous.
Komodo
You know those things on bicycles, they are human beings, with homes, friends, feelings and an urge to exercise their bodies while doing something useful like propelling themselves to a remote location instead of parading themselves in a gym. Have you thought about the Sinclair with adapted pedals and an extended spike for your tail in front? You lie on your back and watch the seagulls taking aim…. On second thoughts don’t.
they are trained based on the notion that everyone on the road is crazy and unpredictable other than the professional drivers!
Bike training schools emphasise this too. Without the qualification. Unfortunately there are not many pushbike training schools, and no legal requirement to attend those.
I decline to view pushbikers as “pedestrians on wheels”. They are much closer to “Learner moped monkeys without motors” IMHO.
Guano: I’m fine with 70 bhp in one of the best bike chassis ever made. But thanks. Sinclair, lol. But perhaps you meant a recumbent pushbike?
The bicycles that really get my goat are the “recumbent” kind, where the cyclist is usually in a supine position.
http://www.2blowhards.com/archives/2006/06/four_wheels_goo_1.html
(The guy’s a cager, but his heart’s in the right place). He continues –
My experience has been that, in almost every case, the rider of a recumbent bicycle is a wiry guy with a beard. I’m not kidding. I almost think that the factory making those bikes has a laboratory (over there, that cement block building halfway hidden behind the paint shop) where they clone those riders.
Another thing about those wiry riders with beards is that they exude an aura of intellectual superiority over the socially-unconscious likes of me. And in fact they probably are smarter than me in raw-IQ terms. Then again, Einstein combined a stratospheric IQ with gaping holes in the common-sense department, so I don’t automatically take such people seriously.
Matter of fact, I regard recumbent bicycle riders as little more than show-offs.
Sorta like Ferrari drivers.
He KNOWS.
(last one, let’s get back to torture. Please.)
….doing something useful like propelling themselves to a remote location….
Yes, but when they get there, why don’t they stay there? Remotely located pushbikers are fine by me.
Komodo said:
That is a matter of opinion and anyone can hold to any kind of opinion, however facts on the other hand point to the speed limits of no more than eighteen miles an hour,….
Really pointless to debate ,because you hate cyclists, and bear a grudge towards them, hence this debate can never come to any kind of conclusion, other than being an opportunity to reiterate the points of dislike . In fact as I am on record, it is a cultural thing, and UK is inthe ranks of the most cycle unfriendly places.
Finally Phil, depending on the size, and tonnage of an oil tanker it can take upwards of eight miles to come to a halt, however any master that does not observe the maritime rules will be left sorry for his actions.
Komodo:
Qadir Al Jilani said: “Those who do not have a Shaykh, their Shaykh is Satan”.
The meaning of Islam is that I as an individual am accountable to my God personally and privately, in spite of all outside influences by which He is free to test my faith in Him.
The enemies of Islam tried to introduce the concept that God delegates his authority to others, so that they could claim delegated power from them as Shaykhs or other titles.
We are asked to check that our leaders are following the correct way in Islam and if we find them to be engaged in falsehood and forbidden things, then there is no listening and no obeying.
To counter this check on self-appointed or hierarchical power, the false Islam of Salafism, created by the enemies of Islam, puts leaflets in the prayer rooms of colleges explaining that God gives people the leaders they deserve, and independent thinkers are khawarij, apostates.
Oh dear, when you are down the club you are under red-faced Cameron obeying the law of the land, and when you are in the mosque you are under the bearded mad mullah who meets with the security services and collates your views on UK foreign policy.
That is obviously not logical. As a Muslim you are a slave to Allah. Cameron and your meddle of muddled mad mullahs, you wish you were sitting on the throne of Allah but that is why He sent a Qur’an, to make everything clear.
Guano
“The meaning of Islam is that I as an individual am accountable to my God personally and privately, in spite of all outside influences by which He is free to test my faith in Him.”
Seems very similar to Protestantism. When you throw in the dislike of images and music and the emphasis on the word, it’s not very different at all.
Guano, I was just interjecting a thought for Villager. Who, as far as I can judge, believes that he should be his own Shaikh. I’m not a Muslim, but again, as far as I can see, Mohammed (ppuh) is any Muslim’s Shaikh, so at least one interpretation of that phrase is favourable to all Muslims.
The enemies of Islam tried to introduce the concept that God delegates his authority to others, so that they could claim delegated power from them as Shaykhs or other titles.
I doubt it was the enemies of Islam. More that hierarchies are very difficult to avoid in human societies. The only sect I know of that avoids them is the Quakers – who take Jesus (pbuh) as their Shaikh, effectively. It’s not just the Salafists who have hierarchies, either, is it? Think Ayatollah for a second.
Should be ‘Mohammed (pbuh)’, above. Time for an eye test, I think, sorry.
Herbie 6 Aug, 2013 – 1:11 pm
“or if you’re feeling just a tad more adventurous you could always turn on, tune in and drop out with Terry Mc Kenna”
Sorry to bang on about my own experiences again…but we are approaching page 5.
I am fairly familiar with the psychedelic shamanism thing. I have endured days of chanting. I have close friends, and know of many others, who manage pain with psychedelics where medicine has nothing to offer.
I absolutely believe in the efficacious properties of pschedelics. I know people who are not who I am about to describe and who are only living because of pschedelics. However, some sufferers are in complete denial. It became apparent to me that there is an unspoken predisposition for narcotics amongst many (not all) cluster headache sufferers. They take drugs, they get headaches, they take different drugs. The stories we tell ourselves can be incredibly elaborate, shaped to evade the bleeding obvious. I am saying this because I’ve just read on wiki that mackenna, who looks like no fool, was a lifelong weed smoker who suffered migraines. Go figure.